First Dawn After the Long Night
by sanctum-c
Summary: Aeris wakes early to see the dawn. AU


Aeris groaned as her alarm went off. She groped for the off button, batting at parts of her bedside table. Locating the clock it still took a few wrong attempts to silence the device. With a sigh she sat up and blinked open her eyes. Today was important; the first day of sunlight in almost two months. She shivered in the chill air after throwing her covers back and moved with stiff motions leaving the warmth of her bed behind. The carpet countered the cold a little as she shuffled across it in near silence. It would be a few more hours before either of her parents were awake, and neither would want to be up this early. She blinked sleep-heavy eyes, moving heavy limbs with clumsy motions as she dressed. The clock indicated there was still some time before the sunrise; more than enough to grab some coffee.

She moved with quiet, slow steps as she left her room. The open plan house was still and near-silent, the hum of appliances on standby the only thing audible. She shivered again, wrapping her arms around herself and shuffled to the hob. She was just reaching out to advance the heating timer when the kettle began whistling. She twisted the gas off and pulled the whistle from the spout silencing it. She tipped two spoonfuls of granulated coffee in her mug wincing as the spoon chinked against the rim. She filled the mug with hot water and a splash of milk letting the drink cool as she carried it across the room. Tweaking aside one of the living room curtains revealed the lightening sky as she sipped her drink. Not much longer.

Aeris pulled on her coat, checking through its pockets for her keys before she fastened all the buttons. With a deep breath she opened the door and stepped out into the chill morning air. The snow crunched under her boots as chill air swept around her. There was not much of a breeze but she still shivered as she stood on the doorstep. Her breath fogged in the growing light, early morning smoke and steam drifting up off of the other buildings around Icicle Inn. The inn itself already seemed a hive of activity. Bleary-eyed tourists would be crowding around tables as they tried to stay awake waiting for the sun-rise. There were fewer tourists at present - the perpetual night less of a draw than the permanent snow cover and the skiing.

Aeris set off around the side of the house, leaving crisp boot-prints in the snow the quiet air now punctuated with the creak of ice. The sky was clear and if they were lucky there would be no new snowfall today. She drew level with her greenhouse in the backyard; her flowers would not need their ultra-violet lamps on today. Running the lamps increased the family's electrical bill. This required giving more money to the Shinra Electric company. Father never liked discussing the organisation that seemed to rule the world. There was a murky part of his past she could not draw him on, her mother chiding her if she pried. At least from today she would reduce the amount of money paid to the organisation, if only by a tiny amount.

Aeris paused to stare at the growing flowers, eyes flicking between the rows and appraising their growth. Some were almost ready for picking and sale. Most of her customers were the tourists - all amazed that there could be flowers in this land of ice and cold. They marveled at the huge trees when they first arrived, tall pine trees with snow hanging from their branches in clumps. But a natural colour other than brown, green or white? Rare here. Selling at the inn had certain other advantages too; the settlement had no permanent denizens close to Aeris's age. All contact with potential friends came about due to the different holiday seasons. As the year advanced it brought with it family's, clusters of friends and other travelers. Who knew what the next influx would be like? All Aeris's brief relationships had resulted from charming encounters with visitors to the area. Parting was always painful, the relationships always short-term. Her partners would go back back South to their homes in places that she could only read about and imagine. And always they would promise to stay in touch. Some did, while others let communication lapse for reasons she would never know.

She clung tight to those that did respond, answering their letters of life away from here as soon as possible. She had written in more than one letter that she had contemplated following one or other of them back to the warmer reaches of the world. Her father's utter fear of Shinra and risk of discovery seemed disproportionate with the need to stay here at the top of the world. She would do it one day she wrote, head south and see the rest of their world. She always refraining from mentioning the gentle tugging sensation that seemed to draw her South. Or the faint whispering on the wind that warned of something not yet come to pass. The sensation had not always been so vague.

Five years ago when the urge to leave had become maddening. She was unable to sit still, unable to concentrate on anything; like a caffeine high though she had yet to drink any coffee that day. Her mother seemed afflicted the same way, and both were an hour outside the settlement before they stopped. Visible across the icy wasteland and through the whirling snow South of them was a mountain range in the far distance. Something beyond it had been calling. What was over there that had drawn her so? The incident had made her mother uncomfortable and was something she was reluctant to discuss. She promised that if it happened again, or was worse then she would know all she needed to. Aeris had pried but received no definitive answers; it could happen again was all her mother would say. The idea that it could seemed to fill the older woman with dread and she muttered she hoped it would not.

Aeris struggled up the slope behind her house, now level with the roof of her house. The sky was brighter still, the dawn just moments away. As the sun rose above the horizon the light became blinding and she shaded her eyes with one hand. The colours of the settlement grew vibrant and defined, the blooms in her green-house now vivid. And the snow itself glittered as though coated with diamonds. Aeris kept watching as the sun crept higher, illuminated by the first dawn after the long night.


End file.
